Crown feed to bottle crowning machines



Feb. 6, 1934. J. w. FLOWER CROWN FEED TO BOTTLE CROWNING MACHINES Filed May 29, 1930 7 .4",- .Hthr

' trip gear and stops the machine.

CROWN FEED T0 BOTTLE CROWNING MACHINES John Walter Flower, Wimborne, Dorset, England Application May 29, 1930, Serial No. 457,347, and in Great Britain November 1, 1929 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a mechanism for use with bottle crowning machines of the rotary type whereby the efiicient and rapid transfer of the crowns from a hopper chute to the crowning heads is ensured.

In such machines, for example the rotary machines set out in my co-pending applications Serial Nos. 455,774, filed May 26, 1930, and 456,641 filed May 28, 1930, and the crowning heads are in continuous movement and it is desirable that a satisfactory transfer of the crowns from a stationary chute to the heads be obtained.

According to the invention the mechanism is provided with means, such as a spring bolt or the like, adapted to be charged and released in synchronism with the rotary crowning machine and when released to project a crown into the appropriate mouth of a crowning head as it registers with the mechanism.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, showing a plan view of the improved mechanism.

In this example the crowns, not shown, are fed from a hopper, not shown, and a chute 1 into the trajectory of a bolt 2 around the shank of which is a spring 3 urging the bolt outwardly. The bolt is timed to be released when the mouth of a crowning slide such as 5 rotating with a crowning machine is more or less in register with the bolt, which then projects the crown into the said mouth.

The charging and releasing of the spring bolt is performed by a rotary disc 6 against the periphery of which a roller 7 on an arm 8 of a bellcrank lever bear. The other arm 9 of the bellcrank lever engages with a projection 10 on the bolt and as the disc is rotated by a gear wheel 11 driven by a pinion 12 coupled to the rotary machine the bolt is alternately placed under tension and released by the roller 7 snapping into and riding out of a recess 13 in the disc. The ratio of the wheels 11 and 12 is such that the bolt is released when a mouth such as 4 is more or less in register with it. In order to prevent the crowns bouncing out of the mouths 4 a guard 14 is provided.

The crowns are fed along the chute by two spring fingers 15 driven from pinion 12. These fingers pass into and out of the chute as they rotate and drive the crowns towards the bolt.

If the supply of crowns becomes exhausted a plunger 16 is free to pass across the chute under the action of a spring 17 and the plunger so moved turns a shaft 18 which is connected to a The shaft 18 and the shaft 70 of my co-pending application Serial No. 455,774, filed May 28, 1930, would be one and the same if the present mechanism were applied to my co-pending application, a suitable lmt motion arrangement being used to permit of the trip members moving the shaft independently.

It will be understood that the mechanism may be used with crowning machines of any suitable type.

What I claim is:-

1. In a rotary bottle crowning machine, a crowning head containing a mouth for the entry of bottle crowns, a device for feeding bottle crowns into said mouth and a mounting permitting movement of said crowning head with respect to the bottle crown feed device, said feed device comprising a bolt, a spring for influencing the bolt, means for normally holding the bolt withdrawn and the spring under tension, and -ieans for suddenly releasing the bolt to permit the spring to operate the bolt to directly engage and project a bottle crown from a chute into the mouth in the crowning head, the bolt being without influence on the crown other than the ejecting impact.

2. In a rotary bottle crowning machine, a crowning head containing a mouth for the entry of bottle crowns, a device for feeding bottle crowns into said mouth and a mounting permitting movement of said crowning head with respect to the bottle crown feed device, said feed device comprising a bolt, a spring for operating the bolt, means for holding the bolt withdrawn and the spring under tension, and a cam for normally holding said means in position to maintain the bolt withdrawn and the spring under tension, said cam being formed to suddenly release the bolt to the influence of the spring for imparting a driving contact on the bottle crown to displace said crown from a chute into the mouth in the crowning head.

3. In a rotary bottle crowning machine, a crowning head containing a mouth for the entry of bottle crowns, a device for feeding bottle crowns into said mouth and a mounting permitting movement of said crowning head with respect to the bottle crown feed device, said feed device comprising a bolt, a spring for operating the bolt in one direction, a lever for holding the bolt withdrawn and the spring under tension, a cam disk formed to cooperate with the lever for normally holding the lever in'position to main tain the bolt withdrawn and the spring tensioned, said cam dish being formed with an abrupt depression serving in predetermined relation of the parts to suddenly release the lever to thereby permit the spring to operate the bolt for driving contact against a crown and thereby deliver the crown from a crown chute to a crowning head of the bottle crowning machine.

JOHN WALTER FLOWER. 

